6 Nov 2014

BR to dump €20m star? Boss reveals the truth about shock LFC swap-deal 'rumour'

Earlier this week, multiple reports suggested that Liverpool are actively trying to engineer a Mario Balotelli-Divock Origi swap deal in January, but is there any truth to this dubious rumour?

According to the Daily Express, Brendan Rodgers is so desperate to bring Origi back to Anfield in January that he's willing to offer the French club Balotelli to sweeten the deal.

It sounds like BS to me, and when asked on Tuesday about the possibility of a swap deal, Lille boss Rene Girard told L'Equipe:

"It's only a rumour. There have been no approaches. As for Balotelli, the question [about a swap deal with Origi] was never asked.”

The idea of a Balotelli-Origi swap deal is so ridiculous that it's barely worth discussing, but in what universe does it make sense to swap a €20m player for a €12m player Liverpool already own?! If Rodgers actually sanctioned such a deal, it would simply highlight (yet again) his exceedingly poor judgement in the transfer market.

Ludicrous swap deals aside, it's definitely possible that Balotelli may leave the club before his contract expires. Rodgers already set the precedent by dumping Sahin early; Rafa Benitez also canned Robbie Keane after only six months at the club, and he cost £4m more than the Italian striker.

I personally have no problem with Liverpool dumping under-performing players early, and if by Christmas - or the end of the season, Balotelli is not doing the business, Liverpool should bite the bullet and move him on. Luckily, unlike expensive transfer catastrophes of the past, Balotelli is a comparatively inexpensive acquisition, so if the club is to make a loss, it shouldn't be that big.

I can't see Rodgers dumping Balotelli in January, though. His hubris won't allow it. Sahin cost nothing, so it was easy to get rid of him, but scrapping a €20m player after only six months will be a personal embarrassment for the manager, as he insisted at the time of purchase that he could succeed where Jose Mourinho and Roberto Mancini failed.

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74 comments:

  1. Tabloid toss, I think.

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  2. Origi is a player with huge potential nothing else it would be foolish to suggest he would be anymore than serviceable at this stage to be honest would be better off staying put for the season.
    These swap deals never seem to happen and this is no more than another B.S rumour

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  3. I think Borini showed what we were missing on Tuesday
    we like our strikers hassling ,running down the channels ,pressing from the top
    till Sturridge comes back we should only play Borini he scored a goal in carling cup final vs Vincent Kompany playing by himself
    Moreover, he has to have some talent you don't play for Chelsea,Roma and Liverpool and teams don't pay 14m for you his situation reminds me of Costa at Athletico Mardid , you give him a chance in his favorite position lets see what happens.

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  4. And no one give me this Balotelli needs a partner to play with him baloney.
    Fact is liverpool should not try and accommodate one player if Rodgers like 433 so be it.


    Balotellis assist record is horrendous so he is not a second striker like some of you believe.


    Even last season vs arsenal and Everton Rodgers moved Suarez out wide because he wants to play with one striker , we only really started playing diamond after the southampton game .
    Diamond only works if you have two lethal strikers up front we have none
    so trust Rodgers and hope he plays borini by himself.

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  5. We just have to wait and see how he plays with Studge when he comes back after all that is what he was bought for .......
    If Mario still doesn't come up with the goods then get shot !
    Meanwhile I'm all in favour of giving Borini more time

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  6. It would be bordering on criminal to discard a player of Balotelli's talents after less than half a season, especially given that the entire team has under-performed in an attacking sense. He's fluffed a few decent opportunities, but lack of confidence is key, and the service he has received has been uncommonly poor in general. It seems that Liverpool are the tabloid newspapers 'club in crisis' of the moment, so unsubstantiated articles like this are to be expected.

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  7. Unfortunately you are not going to get goals by playing Balotelli up on his own and the same goes for Borini. Both are not capable of leading the line but partnering them might bear some fruit.


    Rodgers seems to think otherwise and will continue with playing one up top. Clock is ticking...

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  8. What team have you been watching this season. The only match we started with 4-3-3 was vs Man City.

    Vs Spurs we played 4-1-2-1-2.

    The rest of the season it has been 4-2-3-1 and look where we are with this formation = playing rubbish football, sh!te defence and useless attack yet Rodgers will continue with his stubbornness.

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  9. Jaimie any chance of posting a link to where Rodgers said he would succeed where Mourinho and Mancini failed?

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  10. My team for Chelsea

    Diamond

    ---------------Mignolet----------------
    Manquillo-Toure-Lovren-Moreno
    ----------------Gerrard----------------
    -----------Can---------Hendo--------
    ----------------Sterling---------------
    --------Borini-----------Balotelli-----

    or 4-3-3

    ---------------Mignolet----------------
    Manquillo-Toure-Lovren-Moreno
    ----------------Gerrard----------------
    -----------Can---------Hendo--------
    Sterling------Balotelli-------Lallana

    The reason I am going for Can is to add some steel in our midfield plus he is a real powerful runner with the ball.

    Heaven help us if we see Balotelli being asked by Rodgers to run around like a headless chicken again.

    This is the team I expect Rodgers to go with

    ---------------Mignolet----------------
    Johnson-Skrtel-Lovren-Moreno
    ---------Hendo------Gerrard-------
    Sterling-----Coutinho-----Lallana

    ---------------Balotelli---------------


    which will lead to more rubbish football and easy pickings for Chelsea...

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  11. 442, 4222, 4231, 451, 433 bla bla bla bla. But stubborn BR wont listen to it

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  12. if we want to win we had to field in reserve team ! that d strongest squad. hahaha secret weapon hahaa

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  13. He should play Skirtel instead of Lovren cos he played well against Costa when they beat Spain - no other reason

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  14. Spain and Chelsea are two completely different teams and playing styles which is the same as Costa playing for Spain and Costa playing for Chelsea. He might still be injured though.

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  15. For sure but similarly Sakho outplayed Costa when France played them shame he's injured- take any crumb of hope and maybe it will inspire him ( Skirtel) if he plays

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  16. Costa clearly is not suited to Spain's style of play but is a powerhouse under Mourinho.


    I would much rather go with Toure and Lovren irrespective of whether Costa plays or not.

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  17. I think we might lose against Chelsea.

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  18. Our defence looked ok v Madrid will BR do what he usually does and 'tweak' things I hope not

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  19. But how many times did Madrid hit the post? They had 27 shots on goal with only 9 being on target. Our defence can count themselves lucky.


    Johnson will be back in the team on Saturday. Be afraid, be very afraid...

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  20. Oh no please not him- play with 10 men instead

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  21. Origi is one for the future. 3 goals in 10 games in Ligue 1 is hardly an improvement over what we have.

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  22. After the performance against Madrid, it would be a travesty to drop Lucas


    Mignolet
    Manquillo-Toure-Lovren-Moreno
    Lucas
    Can-Hendo
    Coutinho
    Borini-Sterling


    After the Madrid game, I am sad to day that Stevie's time might be coming to an end. After he came on yesterday, all our intensity and pressure dropped and Madrid eased the game out. BR has a big decision to make. Let's see what he does.

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  23. Stat's lie and mask the reality. Many of those shots were from free kicks and long rangers as well as blocked ones. Our defence restricted them and deserve massive credit. Teams do not get lucky when a team like Real is playing. Their scoring record in the last 5 games - 5-0, 5-0 , 3-0, 3-1 and 4-0. They deserve the plaudits.

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  24. Sounds like BS to me, too. Perhaps (assuming this rumour is a deformed offspring of truth) it was a "we'll loan you Balo so that we may recall Origi and not leave you high-and-dry" type thing...?

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  25. Better obviously than you who have no facts to back up anything only crap about logic and tangents all B.S that never answers a single question i asked or any at all for that matter.
    STOP WASTING MY TIME!!!!!!!!!!

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  26. Now that is a good closing arguement.

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  27. Id like to see Skrtel and Toure like Gene mentions below but not for the same reasons. I've noticed that Lovren gives space to attackers and tries to anticipate their next move which hasn't worked too well so far. Skrtel stands them up and gets stuck in and I think we need more of that kind of play with Toure complementing the more mature reading of the game .
    All I can think about is Lovren getting pulled out wide trying to defend Hazard, giving him too much space, and getting turned inside out
    But I'd love to see your first formation and have Bornni torment that Chelsea back line. But sadly, I think your right and BR will try and hammer that lone striker square peg into our tactical round hole....again....

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  28. As he insisted in time of purchase... Hell he didn't...

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  29. Rogers should play 442 diamond with manquilo.toure.skretle.moreno then Lucas as the holding mid flanked by henderson and lallana with gerard as the no.10 yes i know he does not have the legs for it but just this once try him there because chelsea will expect gerard to be the holding mid and up front borini and balo.

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  30. Borini would track back heavily, so would Mario to some extent so Steven wouldn't have that much tracking back to do. And Lallana and Hendo are perfect for flanks of a diamond. There are two problems with that set up though- Lukas is probably not good enough for Chelsea any more and Sterling being a sub is not likely, though I can't think of a better power sub than him.

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  31. There were 13 shots from Madrid inside the box. If they had their shooting boots on they would have killed us.

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  32. We only had 39% possession vs Madrid. We only had 1 shot at goal and 4 in total. Sorry, but anyone happy with such a performance should take their rose tinted glasses off. Rodgers is making a mockery out of this club. What was the point of us actually turning up vs Madrid? To lose?
    Getting rather sick of how Rodgers seems to think it is ok to play awful football. I cannot even remember it being this bad under Hodgson. We can thank our competition in the EPL for having a crap season too.


    Rodgers will most probably go with my third formation. If we lose it will further intensify the frustration. Right now I do not see us winning as we cannot score and we are conceding goals. How much longer should we allow this to continue. FSG need to have a word.

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  33. 12. What does it matter though when we had 39% possession. We did not turn up to play football or to even try win the game. We turned up to stop them from scoring. It is a disgrace the way Rodgers is making this team play.

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  34. Nevergonnacrackthecode4:07 pm, November 06, 2014

    we are liverpool they are real madrid
    i am happy we never lost 10-0
    because it could ahve happen


    IMO and many others it was our best performance this season

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  35. This shows that we at least restricted Madrid to take low probability shots. I saw glimpses of the passion and determination back in the team. It looked united once again. While we may not have created much, we put in a respectable performances. How many teams can say they went to the Bernabeu and prevent Ronaldo from scoring in the form of his life? The truth is we are not the best of the best and Madrid are. If Mourinho,Wenger, Pellegrini or any other manager played the way we played, they would have been heralded as geniuses. We got back some of the respect from others.

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  36. I fail to see how we have gained respect when we did not show any intent at even scoring a bloody goal. What makes you think we will score against Chelsea playing the way we did vs Madrid or any other team as a matter of fact.


    Will you be singing the same song if we lose 1-0 vs Chelsea with a performance the same as what we saw against Madrid?


    Rose tinted glasses.

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  37. Well Brendan got rid of Reina in favour of Mignolet...
    Is mignolet better than Reina?

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  38. That is the whole point of game management. People criticized Rodgers for showing an intent in scoring goals against Chelsea when he should have gone for a draw. If we went gung ho and all out attack, we would have been creamed. We just played the best side in the world in our worst form in a couple of seasons and did not lose by a cricket score. My point is that I can handle this against Madrid because we tried scoring and were creamed. Against Chelsea, the match is much different. Also, I am not praising Rodgers. He was stupid to leave Sterling and Coutinho on the bench but given the circumstances, we performed well. Borini showed more fight than Balotelli the entire season and I felt once again like urging the team on. You might not feel that and that is fine. Chelsea is not on the level of Real and is shwoing frailties. We will not murder us when we are exposed like Madrid would have. So, no I will not be singing the same song.

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  39. Our best performance this season is a bloody loss. no goals scored, 4 shots at goal with only 1 being on target.


    I have heard it all now.

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  40. We lost anyway so it makes your 'gung ho' point completely irrelevant. madrdi do not have the most solid defence either so really it is just cowardly to turn up to try and ONLY stop the opposition from scoring and this is after spending £120 MILLION POUNDS and the supporters deserve to see such sh!te not only in our last match but for most of the season?


    FSG will be watching very closely. The did not make such a massive amount of cash available for Rodgers to turn up at matches with the aim of not winning.

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  41. I share your belief in that we have seen a lot of sh!t this season but this game should not be in that bracket. We already tried scoring and going at Madrid and that ended badly. We already know the transfers and there is no point going into that ocean right now. Even if we did try to score goals, it is highly unlikely that chances would have come our way as shown in the Anfield game. The important thing to know is that our defence is capable of doing well and has hope. Rodgers has to play is best players on form and IMO that does not include Gerrard or Balotelli. If we do not play the strongest team against Chelsea, I will be frustrated.

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  42. "it is highly unlikely that chances would have come our way as shown in the Anfield game"

    With playing one up top right like we have for 95% of the season. Rodgers can take his one up top mentality and shove right up his arse.

    Our defence was lucky vs Madrid and Mignolet saved our arse with some really good saves again.

    Now playing a style of stopping the opposition from scoring and still losing the match is deemed acceptable. I say f*** that.

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  43. Werner watching us train this afternoon - I think this is a first- something's up

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  44. I do not want him to be sacked but if he continues with his stubbornness then he needs to go.

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  45. that goal Borini scored, was there a foul?

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  46. lucas instead of gerrard

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  47. good team maybe balotelli for sterling?

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  48. If we have 25 pts at X-mas then I think he will go

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  49. Well we are only going at 1.4 points per game so far so if that is the case then by 19 games we will only have 26 points. It will be a difference of 10 points compared to last season which is huge when trying to finish top 4.


    He will be told to pack his stuff and head for the exit.

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  50. Logan, is that you :-)

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  51. It is me. To go from 1st class football to a cesspool is not acceptable. If we were actually playing with intent for most of the season then I would have a different view but fact is that our football has been because of a manager living in a fantasy world. Showing his true colours ;-)

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  52. Lucas is the only dedicated DM in our squad. He is not the best but he takes up good positions and always tries to disrupt opposition attacks. His performance just serves to highlight how much of an asset to the team a world class DM or close enough would be.
    We really should have signed Song. That was the biggest transfer error. That and signing you know who.

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  53. Balotelli can **** off. Had enough. Dude's not for us.

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  54. Blocked shots mate. We defended heroically. Some of those shots in the box were having to get past our defenders who had dropped in. It's not like the shots were clear cut chances. In fact I would like to see that stat as it's most important in judging how well we defended.

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  55. Rodgers is doing What he has done through his LFC career shown an adaptability and willingness to change if he feels it is beneficial. The gameplan was Rafaesque and I for one appreciate it.

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  56. Chelsea did that against us last season. They capitalised on a mistake and Mourinho was heralded as a tactical genius. Many fans on here and elsewhere said we should have plaid similarly and Rodgers was naive not to do it. I think your being naive being so critical of a decent performance.

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  57. I'd take an outfield player over mignolet, just another of Rodgers'
    average overpriced signings.

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  58. What are you talking about his assist record being horrendous? Last season, he scored 23 goals and 9 assists in 43 games....
    If you don't want to give Balo a partner then give better service...

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  59. Was Reina performing a big no, and was he not trying to get out of the club anyway?
    He had to go so your point is what now?

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  60. : ) smile ........ Rodgers is safe, 4000 odd fans in Madrid and many more at Anfield singing his name are not all wrong, got a feeling you're in a minority chief !

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  61. The difference between Ochoa and Navas is that Navas had a great World Cup and was the best 'keeper in La Liga the season before.

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  62. Ochoa had a great World Cup too, no?

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  63. Yep. The point I'm making is that Navas had a great World Cup AND was the best 'keeper in La Liga.


    Ochoa just had a great World Cup (and not as good as Navas, by a small margin, for my money).


    Ochoa may have done well for Ajaccio, but Navas was the best 'keeper (at worst, 2nd to Courtois, though most agree Navas was better that particular season) in a higher standard league.


    I'm effectively answering your question as to why Navas was picked up by a top club and Ochoa wasn't.

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  64. Balo has not done much for me to be truthful. The talk of him being a scape goat is nonsense. If you judge the guy on his contribution to the team it's been woeful. Borini is not much better but at least I saw him run and retain the ball. Bola seems to have little game intelligence when he has the ball he makes poor decisions. Without the ball...let's not go there. BR is at fault though for signing him. I hope that he improves on the weekend.

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  65. I actually read an article yesterday that broke down all the different media outlets that have reported this story and where their sources came from. Bottom line is its a load of made up nonsense like the rest

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  66. Whatever he is, he is a line keeper. A bit of a showboat. Rene Higuita the second. Not what we need.

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  67. Buying him in the first place is the embarrassment. Even if we do sell him though, we would need another striker. Would you trust Rodgers with any more money if your were FSG?

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  68. Who will take Balotelli is the question! And the more important question is "Will BR be LFC manager in January?!?" ...

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